§ Mr. Ian McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many days were lost in sickness in the past 12 months by employees in his Department(a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the number of days worked; and what was the cost of this absence. [34588]
§ Mr. Arbuthnot[holding answer 14 July 1995]: The total number of days sick absence taken by staff in my Department between 1 April 1994 and 31 March 1995 was 959,858. This figure relates to full-time non-industrial staff and includes weekends and public holidays as it is not possible in the time available to make adjustments for these. This is 3.18 per cent. of days worked. It is not possible to calculate the cost of this absence without disproportionate cost.